Rise Against frontman Tom McIlrath says it's still not unusual for him to hear intensely private stories from the band's fans Livedaily.com reports.
"It's scary," McIlrath said during a recent telephone interview. "It's hard to even grasp--especially when I'll talk to a fan out back by the bus before a show for 30 seconds because I'm being rushed off to do something. Someone just opens up to you in those 30 seconds, tells you something incredibly moving, and it's just something so huge that your brain can't even grasp it.
"They tell you that you changed their life. Next thing you know, you're shoved on the stage to do a show. It's hard to really even grasp what that person's actually telling you: How they've been sitting outside of the bus for an hour waiting for you just to tell you that, realizing they'd have no more than 15 seconds to talk to you, but they just wanted to let you know. It's incredible. Bands were that important to me as a kid, too. I understand it. I'm in their shoes, too. The bands I listen to changed my life. They're the reason I'm here today. I know how they're feeling. I never thought they'd be feeling that about me or my band."
McIlrath and the rest of his group are releasing a DVD, "Generation Lost," on Dec. 5 that tells the stories behind the fans and the band. It was created by Davy Rothbart, who writes for Found magazine and books, and produces documentaries for NPR shows such as "This American Life." Rothbart and McIlrath are former roommates.
"[Rothbart is] a really amazing, amazing individual," McIlrath said. "He's been on the road with us before just as a friend, just for fun. He kind of wanted to get back on the road with a camera and get a slice of our lives. He did that. He came on the road with us for the Warped Tour for about 10 days. He shot a lot of us, our fans, our families, a lot of our shows, our friends. He got a really cool perspective on what it's like to be in this band, not just from us either.
"He went out and talked to a lot of our fans. He didn't just talk to the fans. Sometimes he would follow the fans home and go hang out with them. Film, like, their lives, what their life is like and where Rise Against fits into it. It was really eye-opening for us. We don't do that. We just never get that insight into a fan's life--like the kid in the front row, who's singing along. We never get that insight."
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